Conservatives Win Majority in Canada

NDP now official opposition as Liberals, BQ stumble
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2011 3:03 AM CDT
Stephen Harper's Conservatives Win Majority in Canada
Prime Minister Stephen Harper gives the thumbs up after giving his victory speech in Calgary, Alberta, yesterday.   (AP Photo THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

After 7 years and four elections, Stephen Harper has led the Conservative Party to a majority government in Canada, according to preliminary results. The prime minister, who has led minority governments since 2006, won a majority of seats in Parliament and a broader mandate for his party after an election that radically reshaped Canada's political landscape, the Globe and Mail reports.

The New Democratic Party, a movement with socialist roots, became Canada's official opposition after knocking the Liberal Party into third place for the first time since Canada became a nation in 1867. The NDP's rise all but obliterated the Bloc Quebecois party in Quebec, leaving the separatists with just four seats. Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff both lost their seats, while the Green Party picked up its first-ever seat in Parliament with a victory in British Columbia. (More Stephen Harper stories.)

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